Red Roses, Black Rocks
by Sunder the Gold
Summary: After foiling Torchwick and the White Fang's heist and reuniting with Blake, Team RWBY are back at Vale's docks again, waiting for more foreign hunter trainees to arrive for the Vytal Festival. Ruby is especially excited this time, because years ago, a kindred spirit created a new weapon that brought hope to the kingdom of Vacuo... and gave the Schnee Dust Company a major headache.
1. The Black Rock Shooter

"Okay, Sis," Yang started, "We all know by now why Weiss wants to be here-"

"You still can't prove that!" the heiress snapped.

"-but why is it that you're more gung-ho than she is, this time? This place doesn't smell anything less like fish than last time."

Ruby Rose's eager smile turned smug. "Oh-ho- _ho_ , my dearest sister Yang-"

"I swear, if you develop a full-blown Noble Woman's Laugh from hanging out with Weiss-"

"I never laugh like that!"

"Ahem!" coughed their team leader. "As I was about to say, I took Weiss' example as an inspiration. We're here to kindly meet and secretly learn about our competition from Vacuo today."

Yang wasn't impressed. "Last time, Weiss chased a rumor and we got _one_ student from _Mistral_ who was only _born_ in Vacuo, who wasn't even supposed to _be_ on that ship."

Weiss wanted to mutter unkind things under her breath, but didn't want to risk even that much within earshot of Blake (let alone within _cat-ear_ shot; thank the Light for that revelation), lest she say something unintentionally racist and provoke her dark teammate to dig up the only-recently-buried hatchet. The heiress settled for an indignant "Hmph!"

Though defense came from a quarter Weiss didn't expect, when Ruby said, "Be fair, Sis. He _wasn't_ supposed to be on that ship, and the ship was coming from Mistral but he _was_ from Vacuo, so Weiss found and acted on an accurate rumor." As Weiss began to look smug, so did Ruby. "Besides, this time we're working on better information! I made sure to speak to the staff at Beacon to get an _official_ list of the names of traveling students and their expected times of arrival." Her smile turned giddy and she bounced up and down, hardly able to contain herself. "Which is how I learned that a celebrity _and_ one of my personal heroes is arriving today!"

This confused Blake enough to finally speak up. "Your hero is the celebrity, or you're waiting for two different people?"

As Blake had been keeping even quieter than usual, Yang took note of this reaction. Later, when Zwei arrived in the mail, Yang would make a casual test to see if vague language could reliably provoke a response. When the test proved successful, she resolved to use it deliberately just to get Blake to talk more.

But at the present moment, the ship's passengers were disembarking, walking down to the foot of the ramp where Team RWBY awaited. Weiss turned her attention from her teammates up to watch... and spotted something that seemed big, black, and unpleasantly familiar. "No..."

Happy that her quietest teammate was finally showing some form of interest, Ruby missed Weiss's voice and answered Blake's question, "They're one in the same person!"

"Not her. Not-!"

"It's-!"

""Kuroi Mato!""

A pair of blue eyes blinked in surprise at the stereo shout. "Yes?"

The first of the passengers now stood on the docks, four girls in the lead. The small group had come to a stop, forcing the mob behind them to part and walk around the tableau taking place between eight young women.

The first thing that Yang and Blake noted about "Kuroi Mato" was the enormous mass of black steel she held in one hand. A cannon practically as large as its owner, menacingly Gothic in style. Its bore was wide enough to stick your fist inside, and the whole weapon looked sturdy enough to bludgeon you to death without a care.

By comparison, the girl was unassuming in appearance. Dressed in multiple layers of black-and-blue "urban-teenager" clothes, she was a girl of average height, with colors to match. Bright blue eyes, pale white skin, blue-tinted black hair tied up in twin pig-tails that reached down to her shoulders. A sword was sheathed on her hip.

She was accompanied by a girl of similar height in black-and-green, a taller girl in black-and-red, and a girl of diminutive stature in black-and-white. Both of the taller companions had horns, marking them as a gazelle and bison faunus, respectively.

Yang wondered at the prevalence of black (and pondered making a joke about "black being the New Black in Vacuo") while Blake silently approved of their fashion sense, but Ruby only had eyes for her heroine, letting out a squee of delight upon turning to see her right there.

In a flurry of rose petals, Ruby was suddenly face-to-face with a stunned Mato, holding the arrival's free hand in both of her own. "Can I have your autograph?! Can I see inside your weapon?! This is so cool, I'm your biggest fan!"

Patiently, Yang reached out a hand to pick her sister up by the backpack she'd come wearing for some reason, attempting to pull her away. Ruby's hands refused to let go, and she kicked her feet wildly at her sister, who absentmindedly blocked every strike with her other hand.

"Yang, put me down! You're embarrassing me!"

Weiss snapped, "You're embarrassing _yourself! And_ the rest of us!"

Ignoring them both, Yang said to Mato, "Sorry about this; she gets really excited about machines."

Mato smiled kindly, and began calmly shaking the hands clasping her own (Ruby squealed in joy), while her three teammates made various noises of amusement and generally looked like they were enjoying an old joke together. Judging by Mato's faintly-embarrassed and then mildly put-upon expression and eye-roll, they were laughing at her.

The girl with the gazelle horns chuckled demurely behind her hand, green eyes twinkling under hooded lids. "Sounds familiar." Her other hand loosely held a large scythe; black, solid, organically smooth, skeletally spinal, and wickedly curved.

The tall, bison-horned girl laughed under her breath, her red eyes looking down upon everyone with the expression of someone who saw herself as surrounded by amusing inferiors. "I didn't think we'd run into your fans even here, Kuroi. And they're getting younger." She wore a massive sword on her back; two-handed grip, single-edged blade with a serrated back, a motor engine set above the hilt, and of course predominantly colored black.

The nigh-dwarfish girl, standing in the back, had merely grunted softly in her amusement. But her orange eyes were kind, and the hand she placed on Mato's back seemed meant to comfort more than tease. Though she kept silent, she stood out from her pale-skinned, dark-haired friends thanks to a deep bronze complexion and the pure white hair they could just barely see under her raised hood.

"Haha, gals," Mato shot back. "Laugh it up. At least people already know me. I'm practically in the history books without even becoming a huntress yet!" She said this not in the tone of one self-satisfied with such an achievement, but rather like someone using any excuse to say, 'Stop picking on me'.

Ruby, still dangling from Yang's hand, verbally rushed to defend her idol. "Right! You're the inventor... inventress?... of the first man-portable Dust crystallization device! I have all of the magazines that wrote about you with me, would you please sign them?!"

"Sure!" Mato said, beaming. Ruby squealed again, and began digging into her backpack immediately after Yang set her down.

Yang said, "So that's why you brought that." So much for 'secretly observing'. But this whole operation was _kind of like_ trying to make new friends, so she'd support it.

"A man-portable Dust crystallization device?" Blake asked, once again focusing on the thing that made the least sense. "Is that even possible?"

Mato's smile actually became sunnier as she patted the central section of her cannon with her recently-freed hand. "There's one right in here."

Mato actually had time to sign the first of Ruby's magazines while Blake and Yang processed that.

Yang covered her eyes with one hand while holding up the other defensively. "Wait, wait, wait. That makes no sense."

Blake agreed. "You're saying that the device is just one part of that monster? I could believe it if the whole thing was the portable crystallizer, but so small?"

"Why put one in a cannon?" Yang demanded. "Why not save the space and just load finished crystals?"

"Wait, I don't see a chamber for the shells."

"What? No, it's got to fire shells."

"There are no shells!"

"You can't shoot Dust crystals out of a cannon in place of shells, the propellant explosion would make them blow up inside the barrel!"

"Stop laughing at us," Blake growled at Ruby and the visitors.

Yang had also run out of patience. "Ruby Rose, explain!"

All of her magazines now signed, Ruby was happy to do so. She brought her chortling under control, and stepped off to Mato's side, holding out both her hands to present the other girl's cannon.

"This is the Black Rock Cannon, so-named because of its unique form of ammunition. It is initially loaded with a mixture of iron sand, bullet-grade Dust, and other explosive compounds. The Dust is injected into the internal miniature Dust crystallization device, which instantaneously crystallizes the mixture into a Black Rock, which is then loaded into the cannon's chamber. Rather than propel the rock via a chemical explosion, the cannon uses an array of magnetized coils to grab it by the iron content and pull it towards the end of the barrel so fast that it exits the bore at extremely lethal velocities."

Taking a breath, Ruby wrapped up her lecture. "By using her Semblance, Mato can channel her Aura into the Black Rocks, charging them with explosive potential. After one has struck the target, she can remotely trigger that potential, consuming the rock as fuel to explode like a bomb." She flourished her hands. "Boom."

Mato laughed, and mussed up Ruby's hair affectionately.

Yang crossed her arms in contemplation. "Well, that explains the How, but not the Why. Even if it works that crazy-fast, _why_ make the rocks one at a time on the spot? With all of the sand you'd need to carry, plus the fancy machine, you're not really saving any space."

Mato explained. "Black Sand doesn't condense as it forms into crystals, like pure Dust does. Instead, like water freezing into ice, Black Sand actually _expands_ into Black Rocks. Plus, think of all the empty gaps you see in a pile of irregularly shaped rocks; a mound of sand is more compact. Put both facts together, and it would actually take up more space loading finished Rocks into the Cannon, even accounting for the inclusion of the crystallizer."

Yang nodded. "Okay. And even if you could fire pure Dust crystals with the magnets, you'd need to be as rich as Weiss here to shoot 'em up that freely. Even she doesn't go through Dust that fast."

Mato winced. Either Ruby really had kept her so distracted as to miss the presence of Weiss Schnee, or she'd been pretending not to notice. Mustering some shaky geniality, she said, "Hi, Weiss. Doing well?"

The heiress was studiously nonchalant. "Father is still quite frustrated that you turned down his offer and single-handedly made the Arcana Dust Corporation into a dangerously strong competitor against our international Dust markets, which also killed our foothold within Vacuo."

Mato's own expression went flat. "Yes, well, sorry if I wanted to support my own nation's economy instead of selling out to faunus-enslavers."

Their opposing stares electrified the following silence. Given that none of Weiss' own team was standing behind her on this, and all of Mato's very-faunus team obviously _was_ , it was perhaps admirable that the heiress held her ground.

Fortunately, Yang was daring enough to try changing the topic. "You two have met?"

...Unfortunately, she was too curious to change it very _much_.

Weiss answered casually, "Well, when a girl my own age revolutionized the field of Dust crystallization technology in ways our engineers could only dream, Father and I took an interest. We flew out to Vacuo to see her invention for ourselves, and Father personally offered her a king's ransom for it, as well as a place in our company with her own research and development team."

Blake had an epiphany. "Wait, you're _that_ Kuroi Mato?"

Yang said, "So you _have_ heard of her?"

"Not in the context of portable crystallizers. But I lived in Atlas until recently, and anyone who managed to hurt the Schnee Dust Company became something of an instant hero to the faunus there." Her teammates noticed a nearly imperceptible hesitation at the end that informed them she specifically meant 'the White Fang'. "Especially when they also snub Albrecht Schnee to his face. The only way she would have been more loved is if she was a faunus herself, but being a Vacuan with known faunus friends, she was seen as the next best thing." Then Blake remembered who her white teammate was, and mumbled, "Sorry."

Yang once again valiantly changed the subject, and even to something less dangerous this time. "Still, this weapon only really works for you because you use your Semblance, right?"

"Yup. Black Rocks don't react strongly enough to Aura alone. I gotta set it on fire with my soul."

Yang briefly grinned at that, but asked, "Then what did the SDC want with your doohickey? I don't see portable crystallizers selling that well."

"No," Weiss snapped, "Because there's no such thing!" Mastering her frustration, she continued in a steadier tone. "Even if she used _proper_ Dust instead of that wretched dirt and slowed the crystallization process to a more stable speed, the runty little thing in her ridiculous cannon is completely incapable of making crystals even to Arcana's low standards, let alone ours." She visibly restrained herself further, and her tone became more neutral. "The _real_ application of her technology is designing full-sized industrial models with more free space - space which can be used to house greater numbers of the components used for introducing grains of Dust and controlling the exact structures into which they crystallize. That alone would be a powerful tool for finding new possibilities with the four basic types of Dust, researching better combinations for the hybrid types, and probably even discovering _all-new_ types of hybrid Dust, especially when experimental samples can be completed in half the time."

"If it's any consolation," Mato said sadly, "That's why I wish it were as simple as handing my discoveries out to the entire world, so that _everyone's_ scientists had a chance to discover something new and useful. I'm pretty sure that your people _could_ discover something that might never occur to the teams at Arcana."

Weiss' expression was... not sad, but resigned. "That's just capitalism. Commerce runs on competition; you can't just hand out valuable secrets to your rivals." She sighed. "And of course you wouldn't abandon your homeland. I accept that."

The visiting team was blatantly stunned that the heiress had actually accepted Mato's olive branch.

"So why were you so _mad?_ Why _are_ you so mad?"

"Because he's my father, and I wouldn't abandon my family. Even when that means having to live with him."

This third silence, Yang didn't get a chance to break; Weiss did it herself, with a laugh that was both sad and sincerely amused.

With a blithe tone and transparently exaggerated disgust, she said, "Still, did your weapon have to be _quite_ such an abomination? You discovered this shining star of promise, this threefold impossible miracle: A way to scale down crystallizers, speed them up, and do _both at once_. Our engineers would give their right legs for such a thing while using their left legs to kick themselves for being beaten to the punch! But the machine you show us is far too small to actually take advantage of the reduction, far too fast to allow any sort of quality control, and crammed into a prospective huntress's franken-weapon as merely one component of a multiple-stage weapon system."

Mato's lips quirked.

"Further flying in the face of Schnee Dust Company standards, your portable crystallizer is specifically purposed to be exclusively fed only the cheapest, meanest, crudest, and dirtiest of Dust. As if that wasn't enough, the Dust is actually adulterated with common iron sand and gunpowder, limiting the potential effects to one." She repeated Ruby's earlier flourishing hand gesture. " _Explosions!_ In point of fact, the Dust itself is nearly an afterthought in the chemical mixture, used merely to increase the Aura receptivity and explosive power while making crystallization even possible!"

Mato was struggling to hold the smile on her face with one hand.

"And the _cherry_ on top of our despair - the very peak of our employee's frustration - is that all of your breakthroughs were not made for the sake of furthering the science of Dust Engineering or even simply dominating the world market... it was merely the means to your end of creating - and I quote," Weiss altered her voice to presumably mimic an older man, while using her fingers for air-quotes, "The 'Grimmshit ammunition' for this 'Grimmspawned weapon'!"

Mato had given up, and was now openly laughing.

"Because to compound your engineering effrontery, you placed this corrupted jewel into _that_ monster. Do you remember how horrified we were to see the Atlesian concept of the coil gun built with Vacuo's usual over-engineered durability and excessively loose tolerances? The inefficiency and redundancy you accepted! And why? So that you could use the entire thing as a _club_ whenever you wanted to _beat_ something to death!"

The heiress brandished her finger at the Black Rock Cannon and brought her accusations to a close: "The only beauty to be found in your weapon is in its sheer, ruthless, ugly, beastly brutality!"

Kuroi Mato was now absolutely, unreservedly _laughing her head off_. "W-w-why, thank y-you! Hahaha! My baby truly is the loveliest thing in the world!" she crowed in proud joy. "Everything I could want in a weapon!"

As Mato fought down her guffaws, her bison-horned companion mildly said, "You've been rehearsing that, haven't you?"

"Oh, yes."

"Really?" said Mato. "Ha! Okay, my turn." She pointed at Myrtenaster, sitting on Weiss's hip. "Because if the lot of you thought it was painful to see a Vacuan like me striking a balance between your vaunted Atlesian complexity and the bare minimum of proper durability, _I_ think it's _hilarious_ that your weapon looks so fragile despite such a simple design. _So_ simple; it's just a sword with a revolver mechanism! Did you design it yourself, or is that really the best your engineers could come up with?"

Weiss accepted her opponent's teasing mockery with grace. "I decided upon the basic form myself, and believe there is still elegance in simplicity. As for strength, it should compare favorably to even the best products of your nation because, yes, I left the execution to _professionals_. We huntresses can't all be engineering wunderkinder like you and Ruby, here."

"Wait, what?" Ruby said.

"Ah, ah, that's true. These two horned height-cheaters are always teasing me because they're just sore about not being nearly as creative with their own weapons." Bison-Horn snorted derisively, Gazelle-Horn rolled her eyes with a tolerant smile, and Small, Dark, and Silent blew air between her lips in a manner like, 'Look at _me_ and stop complaining'.

Ruby insisted, "No, seriously, Weiss, _what_ was that?"

"I suppose I just have to content myself with a Semblance that can do more with Dust than burn it."

"Because that sounded like a compliment!"

"Heh, yeah. Even if I wanted to work with fancier sorts of Dust, I couldn't really do as much with 'em as folks like you."

"Weiiiiiiiiss!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Be advised that all of the _Black Rock Shooter_ characters are drawing inspiration from _both_ their human and inhuman personae from any or _all_ of the various continuities within the franchise, and thus fit no one single interpretation ever seen before. They will be mixed and matched in order to achieve forms most suitable to growing up and living in Remnant, as well as telling the stories I want to tell and that, hopefully, _you_ want to read.

This places a lot of importance on achieving and _maintaining_ optimum character recognizability with _all_ of my readers rather than just a dedicated few. Therefore, all _Black Rock Shooter_ -inspired characters will retain their original (human) names rather than receive color-based replacements. Canonical characters within the setting (such as Ruby Rose) will treat this with a narrative blind-spot, potentially leading to metanarratively-hypocritical humor (Ex: _BRS_ -inspired Saya commenting on how odd Ozpin's colorless name is without anyone looking at her funny). For those offended for Monty Oum's honor, at least take heart that I happily follow his naming rules for any non-crossover / original character who _needs_ a brand new name. Otherwise, don't bother me about it, because I'm not budging.

Also, Japanese names will be written in the reversed Oriental order, because Lie Ren sets an acceptable amount of precedent. (Yang Xiao Long defies the precedent, but Ren actually _looks_ Chinese, just as the _BRS_ characters would look Japanese.)

BUT, there will be absolutely no Japanese honorifics, or use of the Japanese language at all outside of color-names like "Kuroi". Rest assured that there will not be a single "kawaii" in sight. Remnant is a setting written by native English-speakers and these fanfics are being written by a native English speaker, so these things are unnecessary, even if I otherwise have a fondness for Japan's honorifics.

 **Links to forum discussion threads for this story, complete with art, more frequent updates, and more world-building notes (add and remove spaces):**

forums. spacebattles threads/red-roses-black-rocks-rwby-black%E2%98%85rock-shooter-fusion.358719/

forums. sufficientvelocity threads/red-roses-black-rocks-rwby-black%E2%98%85rock-shooter-fusion.22854/


	2. Black Like Ink

Yang placed a calming hand on her sister's head, "Chill out, Sis, she's messing with you. We all heard her, so she can't weasel out of it. Relax."

The pout was unmoved.

The older sister sighed; she'd tried being gentle. Stepping back to Weiss and Blake, she bellowed, "So, fearless leader! How about some introductions?!"

"Wha– Oh-oh-oh!" Ruby zipped back to her team. Yang threw an arm over her shoulders which Ruby couldn't immediately escape; the elbow she aimed at Yang's ribs was cheerfully deflected.

Speaking as though she weren't engaged in a sibling quarrel, Ruby said, "Welcome to Vale! I'm Ruby Rose, first year student of Beacon Academy and leader of team RWBY! You know my partner, Weiss. This is Blake Belladonna, tragically partnered to my horrible big sister, Yang Xiao Long!"

"Love you, too, Rubes," Yang cooed with a bone-squeaking squeeze.

"Ugh...!"

Mato's group hesitated, as if they wanted to ask a question, but the bison faunus rallied her manners and said, "Thank you. Arriving from Vacuo's Threshold Hunting Academy, Team SYMY accepts your greeting." She smirked. "Belated as it is." Ruby blushed and shrank under Yang's arm.

She pronounced the name as "Sumi", an old word for "ink". Black, of course they were black. What else would their teachers have named them? Or was it the other way around, and the shared color scheme had arisen from their name?

The young woman continued, "I am Irino Saya, team leader. This is my partner, Koutari Yuu." Saya gestured to the tiny girl in the back, who silently lifted one hand shoulder-height in greeting. "You already know Kuroi Mato. And this is her partner, Takanashi Yomi," she gestured to the gazelle faunus.

"Hello," Yomi greeted, curtsying with both hands, her massive scythe fluidly transferred to the crook of one elbow.

Formalities out of the way, Mato finally asked the question on their minds. "Sorry, Ruby, but _you're_ the team leader? Not Weiss Schnee or your sister? You seem a little... young."

Weiss appeared torn between vindication that someone had assumed she would naturally be the leader, and embarrassment that it was not so. Yang merely glowed with pride.

"Headmaster Ozpin himself accepted little Rubles two years early and made her our glorious leader! Isn't she the bee's knees?"

"Enough about knees!" Ruby finally freed herself with a sloppy double palm-thrust fueled by mortification and social terror. It didn't budge Yang an inch, but it let Ruby gain a few precious feet of distance. "I don't want to hear another word about knees!"

Sensing she'd gone too far, Yang dialed her affection back down to "gentle" and loaded in some "concern" for good measure. "Ruby, it's okay. Come on, we've been here a year at Beacon, and no one's given you trouble for skipping two years, right? It's okay to be special."

"But–!"

"Hey, hey," Mato said soothingly, coming up slowly to give Ruby a gentle side-hug, "It's fine. I know exactly how you feel."

"Really?"

"Sure! Well, I _might_ have had it rougher. Remember, I made the Black Rock Cannon when I was younger than you are, and then no one would leave me alone, anymore! It wasn't just companies like the ADC and SDC trying to buy me out, a lot of the students at Gateway Combat School wanted something from me, or they wanted to tear me down. Or both. My engineering teachers started expecting more of me, and my combat instructors began questioning my choice to become a huntress instead of an engineer. If anything, I envy you for getting to skip two years to join Beacon sooner. Things got much better when I entered Shade!"

"Why is that?"

Irino Saya spoke up, "Because being 'special' is actually a _minimum requirement_ to enroll at a hunting academy. To any hunting student worth their Dust, you're merely remarkable. Just like Kuroi, most students should be looking at you like a peer on whom they can depend in the field, or who can help them improve themselves, through cooperation or rivalry. Anyone else shouldn't have had the dedication to qualify."

She wrinkled her nose like she smelled something awful. "But combat schools come before that filtering process, so they're full of posers and wannabes who dedicate themselves only to fooling themselves or others. Part of maintaining that illusion involves tearing down true potential hunters like yourself. No doubt, that's actually one of the reasons why your Ozpin invited you so early. They were already preying on you, weren't they?"

"What?" Yang yelped, and then she insisted, "No. I put a stop to that. No one would dare."

But Ruby wouldn't look Yang in the eyes.

"Ruby?" the older sister said, part plea and part demand.

Saya answered for her, "If you put a stop to their obvious behavior, then they probably just got sneakier about it. Plus, you would have joined Beacon this year without her, right? They just needed to bide their time."

Team SYMY suddenly found themselves wondering if Yang's eyes had always been red. Was the air actually getting warmer?

"Names, Ruby. I want _names_."

"No, Yang, it's not important!"

"Don't say that! Of course it's important! _You're_ important! _Light and Dust_ , why didn't you tell Dad or Uncle they were still giving you trouble? Why didn't you tell _me?!"_

Ruby rounded on her. "Because not everyone had a bigger sister or a dad and uncle as teachers to look after them! I was already special enough, I needed to look after myself! I didn't want your help!"

You could see the exact moment that Yang Xiao Long's heart broke.

Ruby shrank back in on herself to turn away from the sight, and tried to shy away from Mato, but the Vacuan girl insistently renewed her hug.

Saya spoke quietly, "One of the most classic bullying tactics is to shame a victim into forsaking protection. Isolation makes for easier prey."

Mato, petting Ruby's head, took up the thread. "But there's no shame in it, Ruby. Everyone needs friends, whether you're facing Grimm in the wastelands or bullies at school. Back when Gateway got really tough for me, Yuu was my strength. I was so lucky to have her."

Ruby dared to look back up into Yang's lilac eyes, and saw only open arms and a begging invitation. Within a scattering of rose petals, the sisters hugged.

Without pulling away, Yang said, "Ruby, we saw it happening to Jaune. We just went through this with Blake. When you have a problem, come to me. Us. We're family, and a team."

"I promised to the best teammate you had," Weiss reminded her partner indignantly. "I can't do that if you won't let me."

Blake just put a hand on Ruby's back as the younger girl cried and apologized to her sister.

As Ruby pulled herself together, she started laughing wettly. "S-so, if everyone needs to be special, how did Cardin get in?"

Yang laughed along gratefully, while Weiss snorted delicately and Blake grunted less-delicately. The heiress said, "He's like a boarbatusk; absolutely no refinement or grace, but nearly impossible to put down."

"Feh," Yang scoffed. "You shoulda seen Junior."

Blake elected to stay on topic with the opinion, "If he could find the smallest amount of courage to stand up to an actual threat, he could be a useful shield for his team. It's disgraceful that he couldn't kill that Ursa. You said Jaune killed it in one hit, and Cardin toys with Jaune in dueling class."

"Now _Jaune_ ," Weiss said, " _That's_ someone whose enrollment is an utter mystery."

"Come on, Weiss," Ruby pleaded. "Jaune's not that bad―"

Saya broke in with an authoritative clap of her hands. "As much as that sounds like many interesting stories to tell, I'm afraid that they'll have to wait. My team and I need check in at Beacon, and before that we ought to get something to eat."

Ruby perked up. "Oh! I know a place! White Castle Diner is just outside the airport. It shouldn't be too full at this hour."

Weiss nodded. "Their fare is good, for the price. Especially the coffee."

Saya smirked, her previous air of amused superiority returning. "Well, with such glowing endorsements, I suppose we must check it out. Sound good, girls?"

"I could do with a little more coffee, right now," Yomi conceded.

"A burger and fries sounds great," Mato added.

Yuu said nothing, but all of her teammates glanced at her in time to see her nod.

Consensus acquired, Saya said, "Then lead on, little Rose."

Ruby fairly skipped away, happy to do just that. Smiling, Team SYMY followed her as she began regaling them with the local history of Vale, and the rest of Team RWBY brought up the rear. But this new arrangement allowed Blake to finally notice something about Yuu which her previous position had concealed: A white-furred monkey tail.

She glanced again at the horns adorning Saya and Yomi's heads, before she looked to her older teammates to see if they'd noticed as well.

Apparently, they had. Yang had an open, slack expression on her face, like she was surprised but felt that it really shouldn't be so surprising. Weiss's expression of surprise was a little more incredulous, like she was having a hard time believing what she was seeing, but she also seemed a little embarrassed to feel that way. Predictably, Yang was the one opening her mouth first, and Blake tapped her in the side with an elbow.

Yang's eyes asked her what that was for, but she graciously conceded that Blake would be more diplomatic about asking the question.

Blake raised her voice to interrupt Ruby's spirited commentary on the sites. "Mato. I notice that you're the only human on your team."

Team SYMY slowed to a stop, turning to look at her.

Ruby said, "Wait, what?" But Yuu's back was turned to her now, and she saw the tail. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed with mild surprise and delight.

Mato frowned at Blake challengingly. "Is that a _problem?_ ...What, why is everyone laughing?"

Really, it was more of a round of restrained giggling or chuckling. Blake lowered her hand from her mouth, looked around their surroundings to see who might be looking, and wiggled the ears hidden within her bow.

Mato blinked. "Oh."

Saya spoke up. "Apparently, Vacuo has a higher ratio of faunus-to-pureblood humans than the other three kingdoms. But yes, back home, a team composition like ours is still unusual."

Mato sighed. "I have to put up with _so much_ , being the _only one_ on the team who doesn't smell or hear things as sharply. At least I'm lucky that darkness isn't a problem, except that everyone's more sensitive to light, too."

Yang was looking down at Yuu with considering eyes. "I hope this isn't racist, but do you have any relation to Sun Wukong?"

Yuu looked at her with a neutral expression and finally broke her silence with a simple "No."

Yang looked pleased. "Hey, you talked! We're becoming friends already."

Yuu gave her a crooked, unconvinced smirk.

The tour resumed. But Ruby only made it as far as one of Vale's major parks before she couldn't wait any more.

"Can I see your scythe?" she pleaded. "I'll show you mine!"

Yomi blinked down at the smaller, younger girl. "You use a scythe as well? ...Oh my," she said, as Ruby proudly whipped out the compact rifle on her back and unfolded Crescent Rose to its full size.

Mato whistled. "Oh, nice. I wanna see it next." Ruby blushed in happiness.

Off to the side, Yang sighed, and turned to Yomi and Yuu. "Come on, the diner's just outside the park. They'll catch up." Weiss and Blake nodded, following the elder sister's lead.

Yomi chuckled. "I'm no engineer, but how often do I get to compare scythes? Very well, Miss Rose."

"Please, call me Ruby! And this is Crescent Rose!"

"This is the Dead Scythe."

In sync, they offered their weapons with one hand and received with the other.

The Dead Scythe immediately dropped halfway to the ground, as Ruby's eyes bugged out and she "Oofed!" from the unexpected weight. She managed to keep her hold, but she stayed bent over for a moment.

Meanwhile, Yomi handled Crescent Rose gingerly, her expression distressed. "Oh my. It feels like, any moment now, the poor thing is going to float away from me or crumble to pieces in my hands."

"I- I made her with lightweight materials!" Ruby managed, as she eased the Dead Scythe's haft to a standing position on the ground. "She may be half the weight of this thing and have lots of moving parts, but she's plenty durable!"

Yomi took a few practice swings with one hand, then used both as she stepped through a short practice form. She figured out how to flip the blade into an upright position and tried again, but her face remained crinkled with discomfort and self-conscious pity. "Even so, there isn't enough weight to the head. The length of the shaft alone wouldn't let you generate enough force, especially if you lack the strength to use something heavier."

Ruby curled a fist in determination as she held the Dead Scythe like a national flag. "Crescent Rose is a High Impact Sniper Scythe! Firing a .50cal round in mid-swing compensates for the low mass by providing massive acceleration! The recoil can generate sufficient force even from a stationary position, turning a hooking hold into a guillotine cut!"

Yomi looked from one Rose to another with dawning (and mildly horrified) realization. Her grip shifted further away from the trigger as she suddenly gained a better appreciation of the fact that the scythe in her hands doubled as an anti-material rifle.

She turned at last to Mato. "She really is a younger you. That's insane."

Mato just held out her hands. "Gimme."Yomi gladly handed Ruby's weapon over. But whereas the faunus had handled it like a scythe, Mato treated it like a rifle. She checked for a safety mechanism, looked inside the chamber for a bullet, then popped off the ammo magazine and handed it back to Yomi. Gun safety procedures out of the way, she finally hefted the weapon under her armpit and sighted down the barrel, aiming towards trees and walls and away from pedestrians.

After a moment of struggling with the mass of the scythe's head weighing down the muzzle, Mato brought it back down and fiddled with it until she successfully converted it back into one of its rifle modes. And then into its other rifle mode. And then its fully-compacted storage mode. And back again.

"Very nice! Super compact storage mode, easily stored in that holster at the small of your back for minimal imbalance and air drag. Basic rifle mode for quick-draw shots from the hip, with an extending shoulder stock for firing with the sight. Excellent multi-purposing of the mechanisms already in place.

"But Yomi's right. Even though you did a fantastic job of redistributing the balance of weight between each mode, it just doesn't seem heavy enough to counter the recoil. You could pump less Aura into your powder for weaker shots, but you'd be losing a lot of the firepower in return for control. How do you handle it when you really need to blow holes in something, especially with consecutive shots?"

"I plant the scythe blade into the ground and fire from the hip."

Mato goggled at her, returning Crescent Rose to scythe form and setting the tip gently on the dock floor. "And you can aim accurately enough like this?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I'm starting to see how you got into hunting school so early."

Yomi felt that was a good time to hand Mato back the magazine, which her partner promptly loaded back into Crescent Rose.

Ruby immediately handed the Dead Scythe back to Yomi, but the older girl was confused. "Was that enough?"

"Yeah! It's about as heavy as my Uncle Qrow's weapon, so I'd probably just make a mess if I tried to play around with the kusari-gama form. And I don't want to waste any of your Dust."

Yomi blinked, then smiled. "Why am I even surprised? Are you just showing off, now, Little Miss Engineer?"

Ruby blushed and dug her foot into the ground, but she was smiling. Mato and Yomi shared a grin, and began walking after their departed teammates. The diner really was just outside the park.

As Ruby followed, Yomi asked, "Was it your uncle who taught you how to use a scythe?"

"Yup! Crescent Rose is also inspired by his design, though she turned out really different in the end."

"I see. I learned from a private tutor. Have you heard of Dusk Sieg?"

"You were tutored by 'Death Scythe' Sieg?!" Ruby shrieked, and Mato held the diner doors open for the new scythe-sisters.


End file.
